[xdd]

I still remember the $4899 price tag on IBM T-series. Everything today compare to that period is a bargain. Xeon and Ecc is what developer should use for stability(VMs) and decent speed.

$200 coding machine is not a bad idea, but I just cannot figure out where to use it.

[evol262]

The idea that you need a Xeon for VM "stability" and "decent speed" is one of the more asinine things I've ever heard. There's no real advantage to a Xeon over an i5 for 99% of developer workload.

[xdd]

It is not Xeon but the surrounding hardware.

A Bit error in calculation may cause problem in CAD/CAM, Finance or Virtual Machines. Intel does not allow ECC memory with i5 or i7; It is the idea for environments where cannot tolerate bit errors. You will see some odd errors in your VMs after running(rendering) heavily for as little as few hours.

Other examples is model rendering. Intel only allowed 32G memory for i5/i7 CPUs and you need to leave certain free memory while doing that. It end up you can only use 2-3 core instead 12 core which makes your process slower.

[TillE]

Yeah, if you're running a bunch of VMs for testing purposes, I'd rather invest that money in a bigger SSD and plenty of RAM.

[thebiglebrewski]

The price difference these days is insane. I can't believe what you can get for $200!